


Third D&D session among the Black Blades officer cadre

by chacusha



Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Bravely Secret Santa 2019, Characters Play Dungeons & Dragons, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-24 15:46:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21980404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chacusha/pseuds/chacusha
Summary: The Black Blades play D&D with Kamiizumi as their dungeon master. Hijinks ensue.
Kudos: 5





	Third D&D session among the Black Blades officer cadre

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MysticalAuthoress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysticalAuthoress/gifts).



> It's been a really really long time since I've played D&D (last time I played was 2nd edition), but I hope this captures the feel of playing D&D.

_8/17: Third session playing D &D among the Black Blades officer cadre._

_We've put into motion Officer à la Mode's suggestion to play 'Dungeons and Dragons' at our monthly officer social gathering. Seeing as Officer Konoe did not seem very comfortable at our regular social gatherings and rarely talked, we are trying out using this format for social events. The first session was dedicated to learning the rules and creating characters. The second session was mostly spent in having the four player characters meet up in a town and agree to take on a dangerous but well-rewarded mission to retrieve a talisman that would defend the town from the undead creatures that sometimes make it far enough from the Barrow Lands to enter the town from the east._

_During this third session, the four adventurers set out toward the temple where this talisman is supposedly stored, but before they made it very far, they stumbled on a highway robbery in progress..._

* * *

"Everyone make a perception check," Kamiizumi said.

Dice were rolled. The swordmaster turned to the person who had rolled highest, Kikyo, and told her, "Up ahead, you see a large carriage stopped on the road just before a fallen tree. Three people holding daggers and crossbows stand outside the carriage, pointing their weapons inward. They seem to be humans, brigands most likely. They don't seem to have noticed you as they are pretty occupied."

Kikyo held up her hand. "Hold," she said. "Thereseemstobe dangerupahead. Isuggestwegetofftheroad." Kikyo was dressed as her Dungeons and Dragons character: a tiefling monk straight out of the ninja's imagination, complete with a fake scar drawn across her cheek, a wig of blue-purple hair, small goat-like horns attached to her head, and a flowing tunic over some trousers tied around the ankles. Unlike everyone else in the room, she had pulled out all the stops in assuming the role of her character. Dressed -- or perhaps, disguised -- as her Dungeons and Dragons character, the ninja did not seem to have any of her normal aversion toward speaking, but still the words came out in a quiet, somewhat hurried tone.

"All right, I get off the road," Barbarossa said. "Be there any trees nearby to hide in?"

"Yes," Kamiizumi confirmed. "A dense thicket of trees lines the road."

"I hide in the trees and start sneaking closer to the carriage."

"Same," Praline said.

"Me too," Qada echoed.

"Then make a stealth check -- dexterity."

Dice rolls. After reviewing the results, the swordmaster told them that they were not noticed. "Now that you're closer to the carriage, you can hear the brigands demanding all the money and jewels of the occupants. Seems like they must be pretty rich."

"No kidding," Praline remarked, with a flip of her hair. "People with actual money and jewels to hand over? In this economy?"

"From inside the carriage you can hear the faint sounds of sobbing," Kamiizumi continued. "What do you want to do?"

"I draw my sword, leap out of the brush, and skewer the closest bandit!" Qada said, with just slightly too much excitement. He was playing a human paladin named Sorin Reglosh.

Not quite at the same level of excitement, but nevertheless pumped up, Barbarossa also declared his intent to punch the second of those "no-good scallywags" in the face.

The commander's eyebrow quirked upward. "Well, you can do that but..."

Praline was a bit more direct. "Aren't you a gnome wizard? Maybe you should hang back and cast spells. Or at least make use of your weapon?"

"Good call, lass," the pirate said, eagerly flipping through his character sheet to review his list of spells.

"Leave the fighting to us, and the punching to Kikyo!" Praline said. Kikyo shot her a look, and the performer quickly corrected herself, "Er, I mean, Mastery. Mastery... Zhohnnz, right?"

Kikyo nodded in approval. "Ipunchthesecondofthebandits," she said.

"And I attack the third bandit with my rapier."

"You all have surprise," Kamiizumi said. "I'm just going to use the order you attacked as turn order. Roll attack."

With a few lucky rolls on Qada's part, he easily hit his opponent, inflicting a fairly serious wound.

Kikyo didn't do so well, having rolled a 1, but Praline hit her target. A few more blows were traded in the next round, and the round after that, but the going was more difficult than anyone expected, with Praline missing all of her attacks and Kikyo and Qada only getting one hit in each, and mostly dealing low damage.

The battle was looking fairly even until the end of the second round, when Barbarossa, who had been in the trees, came out and caught all three bandits in a Burning Hands spell.

After consulting the damage rolled, Kamiizumi announced, "They're all down. In fact, one is dead."

"Har, har!" Barbarossa barked.

"Ooh, what power!" Qada gushed.

"The people you saved from the bandits introduce themselves to you," Kamiizumi continued. "They are a merchant couple and their two young children. They would like to give you a reward of 30 gold pieces."

"Sweet!" Praline said.

Qada was less impressed. "Only 30 pieces? Perhaps you should throw in some of the jewelry as well."

"Are you saying that to the merchants?" Kamiizumi asked.

"Yes."

"Well, the merchants can't really give up much more than that. If they gave away their money and valuables, they wouldn't be very good merchants, would they?"

"I'm just saying, they were _more_ than willing to give them to those bandits in exchange for their safety. And we're much more powerful than those bandits, as they can see."

"Areyouthreateningthepeoplewejustfinishedsaving?"

"'Threaten' is such an ugly word. I'm merely bringing some considerations to their attention."

"In any case," the dungeon master said, frowning, "I don't think that is very lawful good behavior." Technically speaking, there were no actual consequences for Sorin taking non-lawful good action, not at the level they were at, but it was probably good to have Qada adhering to his character's alignment anyway.

"Oh, I'm aware," Qada said. "But isn't it so _thrilling_ to see the soul of a paladin get slowly _corrupted_ , one act at a time?"

A long, awkward silence followed, interrupted only by a low cough and an "...okay....." from Praline. _(Notes from Kamiizumi's journal: "I have been keeping a close eye on Qada ever since that particular incident several years ago. But so far, I have not gotten any evidence that Qada's actions while playing D &D reflect anything more than an attempt to entertain.")_

"Anyway, I wave my sword around and politely ask for the jewelry too."

"Arr, if ye be serious about menacing these travelers, ye'll have to go through me," Barbarossa said, pointing a thumb at his barrel chest.

"You can't be serious. Don't you literally menace travelers for a living?" Qada asked.

"When the war effort requires it. But there be no glory in cowing some unarmed travelers, already scared out of their wits. Ye best pick on someone your own size."

"Like you?" Qada asked.

Praline shook her head and muttered, "Hayreddin, you're a gnome wizard."

"I hit Alvyn in the face with my fist!" Qada announced.

"Har! I hit back!"

"Gnome! Wizard!" Praline reminded in vain.

Kamiizumi sighed. "Well, roll initiative."

"Kikyo -- I mean, Mastery -- we gotta do something."

Kikyo nodded. "Iwilltry."

In a low voice, largely unheard over the rowdy shouts and die-rolling of Barbarossa and Qada, the ninja asked Kamiizumi a question.

"Sure, I'll allow it."

"I'llneedyoursupportskill, Tira." ("Tira" was short for "Tiramisu Brûlée," the full name of Praline's character: a blonde, charismatic, half-elf bard. Unlike Barbarossa, Praline never needed a reminder of her character, but mainly because she was playing herself.)

"Sure!" Praline said. "You got it. I use my Bardic Inspiration skill to hype up Mastery." The performer started singing an improvised song: "Together, together, we can do anything. My heart's on fire, when you're around. Together, together, we can go anywhere. Your words give me courage when I am down."

When Praline was done singing her little ditty, Kikyo nodded. "I attempt to pinch a nerve in the necks of both Sorin and Alvyn to render them unconscious," she said, and then rolled a die.

Maybe it was the powers of Praline's asterisk unavoidably bleeding into the game, or maybe it was just pure luck, but Kikyo rolled a natural 20.

Not even needing the boost to her roll, she knocked out the other two with a nerve pinch.

While the other two members of their party were unconscious, Mastery and Tiramisu removed the large tree from the road, accepted the 30 gold pieces (as well as the 20 extra the panicked merchants pushed into their hands as a reward for having saved them twice), and rifled through the belongings of the defeated bandits as well.

"Not bad for a day's work!" Praline said.

As she and Kikyo high-fived each other, their commander said, "And that's as good a place as any to stop for today."

Qada still seemed a bit miffed, even though in the end they had gotten more money from the hapless merchants. After all, he had been robbed of both the opportunity to menace people and a good punch-up to boot.

Barbarossa too seemed a bit bummed at not having the chance to brawl, but he was too good-natured to dwell on it. He instead heartily congratulated the "lasses" on taking matters into their hands and getting the better of the both of them.

After collecting the character sheets and dice, and finishing off the last of the beer and snacks, the four officers went on their way, back to their quarters in the Starkfort or back to the S.S. Funky Francisca, in Barbarossa's case, with Barbarossa and Qada promising to settle their duel next week, Praline thanking Kamiizumi for hosting and being their dungeon master, and Kikyo lapsing back to her usual silence. That left Kamiizumi alone to write his notes.

* * *

_In the end, it worked out. The bandits were defeated and the travellers rewarded for their intervention. Though they are not much closer to their destination, they've gotten some good experience out of the encounter._

_As for my reflections on the game itself, it seems like it's succeeding at its purpose, with all the officers finding it entertaining and being able to participate -- in their own way -- in it. We will see how the next session goes..._

**Author's Note:**

> Writing this got a bit meta, man, since D&D's class and battle system influenced Final Fantasy, which eventually evolved into Bravely Default's class and battle system. Now I'm sitting here writing RPG characters playing RPG characters and... @__@


End file.
